The Incas referred to gold as the "tears of the Sun."

Homer,in the "Iliad" and "Odyssey," makes mention of gold as the glory of the immortals and a sign of wealth among ordinary humans. In Genesis 2:10-12, we learn of the river Pison out of Eden, and "the land of Havilah, where there is gold: and the gold of that land is good?"As far back as 3100 B.C., we have evidence of a gold/silver value ratio in the code of Menes, the founder of the...

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A History of Gold and Silver

he following story is based on the historical outline by The National Mining Association What is it about gold that when it was first found in the area of Eastern Europe, 4000 BC., a human being decided to pick it up? Long before it had become one of the most desired materials known to practically every culture around the world, something made the first person decide to reach down with their hand and collect it.Perhaps it was the shine, color or shape. It might have been smooth or part of another mineral that had to be separated. This person could not have had any idea of the effect gold would have on humanity. They had no clue that men would work to find and purify this metal, or that they would collect large amounts of it and die...

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Gold Historical Background

Gold has a long and complex history. From gold’s first discovery, it has symbolized wealth and guaranteed power. Gold has caused obsession in men and nations, destroyed some cultures and gave power to others. Archaeological digs suggest the use of Gold began in the Middle East where the first known civilizations began. The oldest pieces of gold jewelry, Egyptian jewelry, were found in the tomb of Queen Zer and of Queen Pu-abi of Ur in Sumeria and are the oldest examples found of any kind of jewelry in a find from the third millennium BC. Over the centuries, most of the Egyptian tombs were raided, but the tomb of Tutankhamen was discovered undisturbed by modern archaeologists. Inside, the largest collection of gold and...

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Abrief History Of Gold

A child finds a shiny rock in a creek, thousands of years ago, and the human race is introduced to gold for the first time. Gold was first discovered as shining, yellow nuggets. "Gold is where you find it," so the saying goes, and gold was first discovered in its natural state, in streams all over the world. No doubt it was the first metal known to early hominids. Gold became a part of...

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Gold was among the first metals to be mined

Throughout the ages men and women have cherished gold, and many have had a compelling desire to amass great quantities of it—so compelling a desire, in fact, that the frantic need to seek and hoard gold has been aptly named “gold fever.” Gold was among the first metals to be mined because it commonly occurs in its native form, that is, not combined with other elements, because it is beautiful and imperishable, and because exquisite objects can be made from it. Artisans of ancient civilizations used gold lavishly in decorating tombs and temples, and gold objects made more than 5,000 years ago have been found in Egypt. Particularly noteworthy are the gold items discovered by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon in 1922 in the tomb of Tutankhamun....

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The graves of nobles at the ancient Citadel

The graves of nobles at the ancient Citadel of Mycenae near Nauplion, Greece, discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876, yielded a great variety of gold figurines, masks, cups, diadems, and jewelry, plus hundreds of decorated beads and buttons. These elegant works of art were created by skilled craftsmen more than 3,500 years ago.Tutankhamun’s gold mummy case (photo by Lee Boltin).Sketch of the so-called mask of Agamemnon, one of many gold items from the tombs at MycenaeLocation of the Mahd adh Dhahab gold mi...

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The ancient civilizations

The ancient civilizations appear to have obtained their supplies of gold from various deposits in the Middle East. Mines in the region of the Upper Nile near the Red Sea and in the Nubian Desert area supplied much of the gold used by the Egyptian pharaohs. When these mines could no longer meet their demands, deposits elsewhere, possibly in Yemen and southern Africa, were exploited. Artisans in Mesopotamia and Palestine probably obtained their supplies from Egypt and Arabia. Recent studies of the Mahd adh Dhahab (meaning “Cradle of Gold”) mine in the present Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reveal that gold, silver, and copper were recovered from this region during the reign of King Solomon (961-922 B.C.).(Below) An air view of the Mahd adh Dhahab gold...

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